🤝↗
On the first day after a loved one dies, the chance of a heart attack is 21.1 times the usual, and it falls day by day after that. For people aged 60 to 89, the share who have a heart attack or stroke within 30 days after a partner dies roughly doubles, then falls back after a month. If you already have cardiovascular disease, don't stop your medicine these days. If your chest feels crushed, you can't catch your breath, or one side of your body goes weak, call 120 (China's ambulance number) right away.
- Top value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
🩺↗
In the first week after a cancer diagnosis, the chance of suicide is 12.6 times that of people without the diagnosis, and the chance of dying of cardiovascular disease is 5.6 times. By the first year, the suicide risk falls to 3.1 times, and it is more pronounced for cancers that are harder to treat. So bring someone with you on the day you get the report, and don't be alone when you get home. Leave things like quitting your job or selling your home until your next clinic visit.
- Top value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
📅↗
Unemployed people are about 60% more likely to die afterward than people with jobs, more so for men and for younger people, and the risk is highest in the first ten years. When the effect of smoking and drinking is subtracted, the increase shrinks by about a quarter, and that part you can manage yourself. First register as unemployed and claim unemployment insurance benefits; while you are receiving them, your medical insurance is paid for by unemployment insurance.
- High value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
🫶↗
People whose spouse died by suicide are about 80% (men) and 70% (women) more likely than others to be diagnosed with a mental disorder within five years. Compared with people whose spouse died of other causes, it is also 70% to 100% higher. People bereaved this way are more likely to feel that others keep their distance and to feel shame. That is exactly the reason to go and find someone, not to wait until you feel better on your own.
- High value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
🍽️↗
In the less than six months after a spouse dies, the chance of dying in the same period is about 40% higher than for people who are not widowed. After six months it falls to about 15% higher. For men it is about 23% higher, and for women the difference is so small it may be just chance. This gap is not something you get through by telling yourself to cheer up. What to do is put the medicine, the meals and the follow-up checks on a specific person, and don't count on remembering them yourself.
- High value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
🏠↗
When you have no relatives and no friends, there are two things to cover: that someone will find you if something happens, and that you take your medicine and eat on time. For medicine and meals, rely on yourself: write a checklist and set alarms, and don't rely on memory. For someone finding you, there are three things: leave a spare key with a neighbor, ask the residents' committee whether you can be put on the visit and care list, and set up an emergency contact on your phone and keep it switched on.
- Moderate value
- Evidence B
- Buys life
👨👧↗
Children who lose a father or mother before age 18 are about 50% more likely to die by early adulthood than children who have not. When a parent died of an accident or suicide, it is about 80% higher, and when of illness, about 30% higher. What a family can do is tell the child the truth, let them attend the farewell, not interrupt school, and not send them to a relative's home for a change of surroundings.
- High value
- Evidence B
- Buys life
🫶↗
About 1 in every 10 bereaved adults gets stuck: more than six months on, they still long for the person so much that they can't eat, can't go to work, can't take care of children, feel numb, and feel life has no meaning. This is not a lack of strength. It has diagnostic criteria and a specific treatment. Targeted treatment worked for 51%, and ordinary psychotherapy for 28%, and it also worked faster.
- Moderate value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
💬↗
Arranging psychological counseling for every bereaved person brings only a small benefit that can no longer be seen after a while, because most people would recover on their own. But for people who clearly can't adapt, treatment works as well as treatment for other psychological problems. So first check against §29.8 (go to psychiatry if grief is stuck), and spend the money if it matches.
- High value
- Evidence A
- Saves money
🛡️↗
People who are separated or divorced are clearly more likely to die early than people who are still married, and the rise is larger for men and for younger people. This is not necessarily caused by the divorce; divorced people may differ in health and income to begin with. Two things you can manage yourself: don't let your medical insurance and checkups lapse, and don't prop yourself up with cigarettes and alcohol.
- Moderate value
- Evidence A
- Buys life
☎️↗
If you want someone to talk to, call 12356, the national psychological assistance hotline, which is free. For minors and teenagers there is also the 12355 youth integrated service platform (青少年综合服务平台). To see a doctor, register at the psychological clinic of a psychiatry, psychology or clinical psychology department. When there is a family upheaval, unemployment or dropping out of school, community grid workers and social workers are supposed to reach out on their own.
- High value
- Evidence B
- Saves money
⏳↗
In this period your judgment of any “opportunity” is at its worst. People who say they can reach the dead, people who say they can help you win your money back, people who urge you to quit your job and start over in another city, and people who pull you into a partnership will all come looking for you. Put off for three months anything above a month's income or with a high cost of changing your mind. First tell it to someone who has no stake in the matter, and don't decide the same day.
- Moderate value
- Evidence B
- Saves money
